5.01.2008

#13: hello, my name is ocean howell and this is my chrome ball incident.

ocean howell. 540 varial kickflip. 1992.

now this dude was a beast. stuff like this is why i started this operation. let's list what's at play here:

1) that's a 540 VARIAL kickflip, not a 360 with some dinky kickturn/slide b.s. at the end. straight video game technique being displayed.

2) that's a photo sequence. 9 shots. with film. in 1992. not video captures and not digital prints. so how many tries do you think he got? clean.

3) when was the last time you saw someone do something like this? But for real, this was a jawdropper back then and a real dummy smack today considering that i doubt no more than 10 modern pros can probably do this trick now (rodney doesn't count). I remember the first time i saw this over 15 years ago... it was like, straight up, looking at "the future"... flying cars, laser beams, robots, and this.

for real, Ocean never got his due. not only could my man blend crazy hippie vibes and Brand Nubian together seamlessly, he also made crazy mismatched socks, floppy patouli stank hats and the Doors' "Peace Frog" forever cool in my book... answer key.

(yeah, i just learned that html link shit and i'm makin' the most of it, chump)

...but I seriously think that if dude would've had a Rocco-owned board sponsor, he'd have legendary status right now. unfortunately, Ocean stayed on post-Plan B H-Street (who never turned him pro for some reason) and sorry Birdhouse, who's only saving grace on street at the time was Willy Santos, Klein and Andrew Reynolds... when he was, like, sperm-years-old. All I gotta say is, imagine if that clip was in Questionable instead of Next Generation!?!? dude be tre flipping the Great Wall of China right now.

last I heard Ocean was becoming an architect. he still pops up every now and then, but damn... back then, dude was official like a ref with a whistle.

I'm getting a headache.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

OCEAN!!! MARCUS WYNDHAM WAS HITTIN' TOO.

78 said...

man his Next Gen video part was so fuckin ahead of it's time... yeah the p-flips were abundant but the dude had styles for miles... talk about endless lines!

Keith said...

Ocean also had a good part in one of the Birdhouse videos. The one with Yellow Submarine in Willy's part. Don't think it's on youtube or any other video host. Just checked skimthefat.... Ravers.

This 8 seconds is sick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGOOQg2BgGI

He did a demo in Ottawa back in the day and it was kind of funny. The whole time, he just tried bigflip to fs nose on a box. Must have been 40+ tries. Didn't make it LOL

chops said...

yeah, i was looking for that one but couldn't find it anywhere... that's the one where he skated to Brand Nubian if I remember correctly.

That's funny about that demo... i remember i saw Dyrdek around the same time ('93) and we got to see him try nollie double heelflips for at least two hours. It was so boring and ridiculous but when he finally made it, the place went absolutely apeshit. Sounds like you weren't so lucky... did you at least get to see him bust a tre?

Keith said...

It wasn't that memorable LOL I don't think he did a single trick other than trying that bigflip to fs nose on the damn box LOL

quinnaverydavis.blogspot.com said...

I still have yet to see a bs ollie 270 flip lip on ANYTHING, let alone in a run.

some poser said...

where can i find the Peace Frog part?!!?

Anonymous said...

Well, the demo I was at he rolled up in the van, got out, and first try did the bigflip to f-side nose slide on ledge, so I guess if he could do that, then he is allowed to have an off day now and then like anyone else also.

Matt said...

First person I ever saw doing front foot impossible. What video was that? He just had a tiny first shot down some stairs a few times